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Interview with Maria Chavez
Andrew Beveroth: I’m Andrew Beveroth and
Bonnie Thornton: I’m Bonnie Thornton
Maria Chavez: I’m Maria Chavez
Thornton: And today we are here at the Palomares Justice center in Moline, Illinois. The time is
3:07 and we are about to begin conducting an interview with Maria Chavez.
Chavez: And today’s date is January 31st, 2014.
Thornton: Yes, thanks Maria. So could you just tell us a little bit about when you came to the
Quad Cities? Have you always been in the area?
Chavez: No, actually I was born in the state of Texas and I was raised in the state of Oregon.
Then my sister married someone from Silvis. And she said come this way, and you’ll get a job.
And I trusted her. So I came in 1970, March of 1970 and as soon as I arrived in the Quad City
area I saw a need for justice and a help for interpreters, translators. Where I came from
everybody spoke English and Spanish and when I came here I learned that they had a lot of
Hispanics that couldn’t speak English, so then I saw myself getting involved. We came, had no
jobs, so we did a lot of praying. I went everywhere applying. And my first job was
[incomprehensible] motel and it was the worst of my life, even though I come from a migrant
family. Working there I saw the discrimination, and they didn’t like Hispanics but they needed
my help, so, I was their bilingual so they kept me. Until one day I got a call and they said that
the state of Illinois was hiring and they were interested in me, and I could not believe it. And so
I went in for an interview, and they asked me to come in the following day, and I did. They had
a panel of seven that could speak real good Spanish and English and they interviewed me, like,
for twenty minutes and they said ‘your hired, we don’t have to go, that’s it.’ And I started
working, when I lived here, Feb. 29th the job service office, then located on 5th Ave. in Moline,
and right away I knew they needed my help and they knew they needed my help. I started
helping people looking for jobs, providing transportation, and then we saw the need that they
needed rides to the medical clinic, they needed rides to the school, they need interpreters and
translators. I wanted to get out of the State and get a job to do that, but it was very hard. I had
two children, single parent, so I then stayed with the State and I work there for 36 years. During
those 36 years I was helping, I started with Casa Guanajuato, I was with them for a while, and
then I dislike some of the ideas that came in and new people bringing new ideas that weren’t
really what I was looking for, so I left them. Then I started with the funeral home. I’ve been with
them 16 years in the QC area, I help everybody. I’m a volunteer, and I do everything
[incomprehensible] I [incomprehensible] work, applications, talking to families, going to the
American and Mexican Consulates in Chicago, going to the airport, preparing bodies, talking to
them. So I do a lot of traveling, a lot of in and out of my house. Eight years ago, I met
somebody, I was single for all those years and I talked with him and I told him. I said, ‘this is
what I do and I don’t know if you can put up with that and if you can, I’ll stay with you and if
not, then you have to find somebody else.’ And he said ‘Well, why don’t we give it a try,’ and I
said, ‘Okay.’ He went with me to the funeral home with me one day. We had a body that had
been there for three weeks, so they start turning gray and we have to put medication on them.
Well we have to put these curtain things on the casket so the body will stay alive, for us, what
we call alive. The body goes up and the air circulates, and then it goes down again. My husband
saw that and he almost had a heart attack so he doesn’t go no more. He comes here once in a
while, and helps us when we do the cleanup and moving around a bit. And so then Casa
Guanajuato moved, actually this was Casa Guanajuato at one time. And then they brought in
the idea of Palomares and they called me again and they said ‘would you be interested?’ I said,
‘Let me glance at it and give it a try.’ We have an attorney that comes from Ohio and she says ‘I
really need your help,’ so we stayed and we’ve been helping the community. They come here
when they need a house, rental properties, when they need food, when they need any
paperwork that needed to be translated or that needs to be translated, go to court, go to the
doctor, to the dentist, to the school, you name it we’re here. And there’s four of us that
volunteer but I only volunteer when I can, because I’m everywhere. So like for example, the
funeral home, I’ve been there for a whole week. So, that makes it hard to do anything else that
I love what I do and I don’t really need the money because I’m retired now. So what I get, I have
enough to survive and so then I do it free. Once in a while, people give us money for gas, they
take us out to eat because we have been with them for six, seven hours. But very seldom
because we get together here and then we eat and then we go home. I live like seven blocks, so
very accessible to come and go. And we cannot keep the office open because we have no pay,
no money to pay anybody, so we just work it out. Everyone in this area knows us, so if they
need something they locate our phone number and they call and say ‘we need…’ So we come
here like today for you guys, if they need an interview, if they need to go to an attorney, to the
doctor, to the dentist, etc. Then they call and we sit here and meet with the family and we
figure out who can go, what time, and then we decide ‘you go’ or ‘I’ll go’ or whatever. So we
just work on a daily basis as the need arrives. The need is there 100% but unfortunately we
cannot be here 100% of the time. But the phone number is listed in front of the door so that
they come write down the number, then they call us. Maryanne Garcia is the primary supporter
of the center and if she sees the need that someone else has to help, she calls and says ‘I need
your help’ so that’s how we work it out.
Thornton: So this need has always been there since you’ve come up here. You’ve always
noticed this need. Do you think it has grown at all? Or it has maintained its same level? Because
it has, the Quad Cities, like here in Moline, there has always been a larger Hispanic population
so why do you think that this level of need has always been there? Or has it…
Chavez: Because it changes. New families come into the area, so knew needs arrive. I seen in
the last, probably ten years, that it is not as bad as when I came forty years ago. They don’t
notice our color, our need is different and so a lot of people don’t understand. It’s hard to deal
with the other nationalities when they see like for example, we have families that have been in
the area for like twenty years and they don’t speak English. And you try to tell the people that
they need to learn, that they have to. There is some that they just can’t because of the fact that
they have to work to provide for their families. So, that makes it very hard to go to school and
study. And then on the other hand we have some people that are right here and they see the
need immediately and they start right away. So we have people that understand, people that
don’t, we have some that want to learn and the other ones that just set aside the need. They
say ‘There is always people that can help you, someone is going to translate and interrupt, so
we don’t have to.’ And, uh, like in the last ten years they have seen the need of the Hispanics,
so the police officers have changed, a little bit. When I came it was really good and then it went
from good to bad to worst. And then I think it’s taking place again where they know that there
is people that don’t have a driver’s license because they can’t obtain one. So it doesn’t matter
what you tell them, how you tell them to get it, they can’t get one. So there is always going to
be people like that, thank God that they are working the driver’s license. I think that that is
going to kill half of the problem.
Thornton: What do you mean it went from good to bad to worse…?
Chavez: Because when I came forty years ago, the school system, uh, other nationalities, even
going to the grocery stores, to the hospitals, it was very understandable. They would sit with
you and they would discuss the problem. They had applications, they had places to refer you
and then it started to get bad where they didn’t really have the time to deal with you. And they
would just say ‘we can’t help you, goodbye.’ And then it got worse when they said you couldn’t
even come into the door because you’re illegal or because you don’t speak English. And then
it’s gotten better, it’s gotten better, they are getting to the point where you walk in, you explain
the problem, if they can’t help you they refer you to other sources and they know that we are
providing them interpreters do it’s not going to cost them any money. We’re providing them
transportation where they don’t have to do anything. So I seen, like for example, the hospitals,
the local hospitals, you go in and right away they say ‘well, we can’t help you, but you can call
this number’ or ‘here is where to refer you.’ So that has changed in the last ten years, I see that.
And the Hispanic community has learned that even though they have their kids growing into
this area and speaking the language, they still have to learn because the kids are going to grow
and get out of the house, and they are still going to be by themselves. So they have classes,
English classes in the area where they can go and learn the English language and I can see that a
lot of people are becoming more involved and interested in the classes. Where like twenty
years ago, all they wanted was to work, get a house and get food for the family, and now they
know that the English language, it’s, it’s, as needed as speaking the Spanish language like we
do. So they are going into the classes, they are working and they are seeking the help that they
need and they come to us because we are right in the middle of the community, of the
Palomares area. Everyone knows everyone, if they need something and they say ‘You know
what, I need this. Go there.’ And they have someone get the phone number and call. And so
that’s really good advertisement, you don’t have to go to the radio or the T.V., that is it.
Somebody sees the number and gives it out to everybody and they know our names, and they
know our first names, so they call. And they call every day, every day we have a family that
needs something so we’re always out there. I’m always out on the streets, you can see me
everywhere, I run from one side to the other, I go to the hospital, I go to the school, I go to the
homes to see what they need. I look for food, for housing, transportation, interpreting and
translating when the attorney comes in, I’m here for like four, five, six, seven hours at a time.
And we get good cases and we can help a lot of people.
Thornton: What has inspired you to fill all these needs and be so focused on social justice? Did
you family, did your upbringing influence, have a very important part in influence this part of
your life?
Chavez: My parents, my parents as I was growing up they always told me that I was smart and
that they could see it; that I needed to go to school and become somebody and when I got
somewhere where I got to do something important, not to leave anyone behind. My father
used to tell me, my father was from the state of Texas, and he always told me ‘when you see
the discrimination and when they see your color, and they do this and they do that, you notice
it only if you want to notice it. Because it’s not the whites, it’s not the black community that
discriminates, it’s the system and that’s how it works and if you can overpass that, you will
survive.’ And I did, and I saw discrimination. To this day I see it, but I don’t feel it, I let it go
because, like my father used to say, ‘If you let it go, you’ll be okay.’ And when I was going to
school I saw where the whites went in the morning and then at a certain time blacks and
Hispanics, Indians and all nationalities and so, they went from 8:30 to 1:00 and then we went
from 1:30 to 4:00 and they expected us to graduate with the whites. And so then they gave you
the incentive that you have to study more than they did and that you had to do better in order
to graduate. And at the time I went to school there was probably like 3% Hispanics and Indians
and other nationalities that graduated from my high school because it was hard and it was
impossible. We went from state to state working as migrant workers so we never settle and
then one day I put my foot down and I told my dad ‘We can’t do this, we can’t go from state to
state.’ As you can see my hands, see my fingers won’t close, and see how they are from working
in the migrant camps? Using the scissors and the knives and the onions, and see how my fingers
are?
Thornton: So what, did you cut onions?
Chavez: Yeah, you had to hold the scissors like this and so year to year, day to day, month to
month, they start growing deformed and I told my dad, I said: ‘Look at my hands, I don’t want
this. We can’t do that, we’re not going state to state. We’re going to go to Illinois and we are
going to stay there.’ And my father said, ‘Okay, we’ll do what you want.’ So I came and brought
them with and right away I saw the opportunity, I went everywhere looking for work and John
Deere called me twice and I had to travel and I didn’t want that because I had my children and
they were small. Thank God that I didn’t, they had good money and good insurance but now I
when see my kids say ‘thanks for being there,’ that that paid for not going to Deere, I stayed
with the state 36 years. It was kind of hard because you saw discrimination among coworkers,
supervisors, and management were not satisfied to have Hispanics around or blacks, but I over
saw that and I didn’t care. I stayed because I needed to stay, and working with the community I
learned a lot going out there because I stopped at the store and I say ‘Hi’ to everybody and then
they tell me so and so needs a bed, or so and so needs a ride and then I write it down. I keep
my tablet every day and then I go, I call them. If I see the need I go and if not I tell them ‘Well
you have to work on your car and make sure that it’s working. You can’t just rely on somebody
else to do what you have to do.’ If I can, I call the mechanic and I tell them, ‘Do it for me, and if
you are going to charge like 100 dollars, well I would like 30 now, and then we’ll get you good
jobs later.’ They trust me, they say, ‘Okay, I’ll do it for 30 and then you can send people later
that are going to pay what I charge.’ And then sometimes they call, ‘I need a refrigerator, mine
broke, I have no money at all.’ So I call everybody, ‘You have a refrigerator you don’t want in
the garage?’ ‘Yes, we have one, come and get it,’ and that’s how we work and that’s what we
do, every day. I start my day at 7:00, I get up at 6:00, feed my puppy, I have a little dog, I have a
cup of coffee and I start. I go everywhere; I go from Rock Island to Silvis. I go sometimes, very
seldom to Iowa, I don’t like to go across, so I stay on this side. At one time I was told that I need
to keep track of everything I do on a daily bases; so I grab a calendar and I started and it’s just
impossible.
Thornton: [laughter]
Chavez: Impossible because I’m writing something that I’m doing at 2:00 and in your case I was
interpreting at the hospital, translating and interpreting and then I heard your call and I wanted
to answer, I couldn’t. Then I had to wait and say ‘I’m sorry’ and then today I told them at the
funeral home, ‘I can’t I have to see her, I told her’ so they said ‘Okay, okay you can leave.’ They
wanted me to stay. Sometimes I stay until 10:00 and it’s all free and it’s nice. At night I go home
and I thank the Lord that He gives me the wisdom and, really, my health to do what I do and I
love it. It’s really, really nice.
Thornton: Yeah.
Chavez: It’s really nice because I deal with all types of people, I deal with all nationalities, I hear
everybody’s side, and then I compare and see where’s the difference and where’s the need and
then I go out there. I’ve been to a lot of public meetings were I can tell the parents the need to
learn the language. They need to learn how to change a tire, I had, and if I can do it anybody
can do it and that’s what I tell them. You encounter a lot of parents and the mom goes
[unintelligible] and I said ‘Hey, I did it. And forty years ago it was worse than now, so if I can do
it, you can do it, you need to stand up and take a shower. I don’t want you to look like that and
go to work because you haven’t taken a shower in two days, that’s not what God wants.’ And
they say ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ Then you see the change, you see that you are doing something.
Then a lot of time I am offered money. Sometimes you know, ‘I want to give you 20 dollars or
30 dollars.’ I know that they don’t have 20 dollars or 30 dollars to share, but they want to thank
me for what I did. So what I tell them, ‘No, when you go to church you say a prayer for me.’ Or
‘When you make the mole for enchiladas, bring me a couple.’ That will be my gift. I love what I
do, I think that’s why I’m happy in my own way. I don’t criticize a lot because there’s not time
to do that.
Thornton: Yeah.
Chavez: You’re always busy, you’re always on the phone, you’re always talking to somebody,
and you learn something new on a daily basis.
Thornton: That’s something really unique what you said; you said you don’t criticize a lot, and
when, and what your father told you, when you see the discrimination you let it go, ignore that,
and keep going. But that must be really hard, what are time you seem like this discrimination,
you mentioned you saw it in the workplace and probably other instances. So could you just tell
us some of how you let it go?
Chavez: For example, one time at work somebody did something really bad and they called her
in the office and they just patted her hand and said you know, ‘Don’t do it again.’ And it was a
mistake that sometime that you overlook and you’re working and I made the same mistake. I
was called and I was reprimanded, and they said, ‘Well we’re going to keep you off the job for
two days.’ And that’s when you see the difference because somebody is Anglo and they made a
mistake and said ‘Well it’s okay, don’t do it again.’ Then they call me, I’ve been there twenty
years, and it was just an honest mistake and they said, ‘Well you know, we’re going to do this
and this.’ I got up and said, ‘You can’t do that if you are going to be equal. You call it equal
employment; if you are going to do the same then you pat me on the hand like you did her or
else get her in her and do the same that you’re doing to me.’ And they looked at me and said,
‘Yeah, you’re right.’ So I mean, if you don’t get hurt by the words that you hear or the looks,
even though right now 2014, you go to the mall or you go to Wal-Mart, you see people that
don’t like blacks, that don’t like Hispanics, and you can sense it, you can tell. I don’t know about
other people, but I can when they are looking at me. Like you know, I’m sorry, but I was born in
this country and I speak English just like you do. There is still people that see it, your dark color
is different and you don’t belong in this country, they should send you back to your own
country. Well this is my country, where can I go? My father used to tell me. ‘When you see that,
don’t go back and fight, that happens in the war and that’s why they are over there, you don’t
want to be over there. When somebody says something negative or give you a dirty look, smile
back and ignore the look and you’ll be okay.’ And that’s what I do, I’ve done that all my life. I’ve
seen people that don’t like me because I say things that I shouldn’t but I know how to say
‘Excuse me’ and ‘I’m sorry.’ when I’ve made a mistake. Because we do on a daily basis and you
see that they see you and they give you a dirty look, I just look at them, I smile or I say ‘Hi’ and
right away when they see that you are smiling or that you are saying ‘Hi’ they turn around and
their look changes, you can see it and like ‘Oh, hello.’ You do that, then you’re okay, you’re at
peace with your mind. I’ve always talked about and say ‘I need your help’ because I’m out there
running the streets I don’t want to die in a car accident, please take me when I’m somewhere
else, you know.
Thornton: [laughter]
Chavez: Like I say, I start my day, I do probably like twelve hours of driving every day going from
place to place. Like this morning I started at 7:00 and I’m here with you, and from here I have to
go a house, to a lady, a friend of mine that is very ill, and I promise I go see her, and from there
I’m going somewhere else, I have to go back to the funeral home, and then I’ll probably end up
at home around 8:00, 9:00 at night. I’m so tired by then I don’t, I just say a prayer, have
something to eat, and go to sleep so I can get up in the morning. Every morning I get up, open
my eyes and thank the Lord. I say ‘thank you for giving, granting me another day so I can go out
there and help the needed’ because even though I have needs and I know I have needs, as soon
as I step out the door, the needs that I have die immediately because somebody else’s needs
are worse than mine. I have food on the table, thank God I have a house, I have a car, there’s
people that don’t even know what they are going to eat the next day in this area. It hard to
believe it is happening. Then we have employers that hire people and they treat them like
animals and you see this and it just creates a problem in your mind because there is nothing
that you can do. You try and try and there is nothing can do and it just so frustrating. I think
that the people that are weak, I think that’s why they commit suicide because they can’t deal
with the situation, you can see why, because I see that on a daily bases. I go to a home where
the family has three kids, the father left, the mother works, makes $7.50 an hour, has to pay
$450 a month rent plus all the other and it’s just like what are you going to do? You see it, so I
think that the suffering makes you strong and you become interested in helping others. You see
only, you help the need and you know what you did, then you can go out there and help. Do
what you can do and try your best, that’s all you can do.
Thornton: Yeah.
Chavez: It’s just so nice you guy take the time to do this because I’m pretty sure in the future,
ten years from now, it’s going to be very different from today. Somebody’s going to look at that
and they going to see what I said and what you asked, maybe it’s going to be completely
different but they can rely back on this and somehow learn something from this.
Thornton: What are some of the things that you think need to change then, more in the Quad
City area for the Hispanic/Latino community. Um, some of the things that can be done to
improve, maybe.
Chavez: I think the police force can be more realistic and understandable, and there’s a lot of
people in the community that don’t speak English and they don’t give you a chance. They stop
you and they get rattled, and without you knowing your rights or what to answer they take you
in, they call immigration and deport people. I think if changed a little bit in that area, uh, it’s
going to change the whole community. And then, also, the school system, there’s children that
have a real heavy accent like I do and the reason is because we always spoke Spanish as kids,
even though we were born in this country, and they don’t understand that. And, another one is,
that also, the families need to understand the need to speak the language and go to school and
learn. And they have to survive learn how to survive. Don’t rely on somebody else to give you
what you need. Don’t rely on somebody to bring you food. You have to go out there and look,
and if you look you’ll find. And I think if that changes, and they see the need in the community
and help each other, we’ll be a better community. I really, I really see that. That if we do that,
and probably we will, it’s just going to take time.
Thornton: Yeah.
Chavez: To educate everybody and say, ‘you need to learn English to go to the store.’ Ok, right
here’s the Mexican store. You can just walk in and rattle in Spanish, you don’t need help. That’s
fine and that’s good, but then let’s say you go to Wal-Mart and something happens, you’re
going to have to say something, and how are you going to say it if you don’t know. If they
overcharge you, let’s say a gallon of milk costs $3.49 and you just saw the cashier run $3.98.
Well, you have to pay $3.98 because there’s nothing you can say. And if you learn that, the
need, then we’ll be better. And we’re doing that. It has taken work and understanding, but we’ll
get there someday.
Thornton: Yeah.
Chavez: And I think, uh, the other nationalities in this area are learning that we’re here to stay.
We’re not going nowhere. So there dealing with us in a better, closer, relation than they were
thirty years ago.
Beveroth: Um, you really try to help the, help out people. Um, and you try to be motivation to
them. How, when you tell them that they need to go out, help themselves a little bit, how did
they respond to that sometimes? Do you get negative responses?
Chavez: Mhm. You get all kind of responses. For example, I had a lady that, her husband left
and she’s left behind with three kids, she felt like she didn’t have to take a shower anymore. I
mean, she could go to work like that, and she didn’t have to do anything, she didn’t have to
feed the kids they can feed themselves. So she need just a little bit of motivation, and so you
know you can’t just sit there and hope that you’re going to die tomorrow because, I mean, you
might get twenty years to go and you’re going to look like that in twenty years? And then they
see you walk in, and they see me with my smile and my hair-do, you know, and my make-up
even though, you know, I don’t do that good of a job, and they say ‘How can you look like that
on a daily basis?’ ‘And well, you have to motivate yourself’ ‘you know you’re right.’ And then,
three days later I walked in and she was completely different, like a coin. You turn the coin. And
I said, ‘What happened?’ And she says, ‘Because you’re right, you’re right, and my kids said that
you’re right, that I need to do that.’ And she went out, got a better job, now she’s doing real
good. And then, sometimes, they say that ‘it’s not your business, I don’t want you here’ and,
you know, ‘come back next time,’ whatever, and you just say, ‘ok. When you need me, here’s
my card, give me a call.’ And so, you get all kinds of responses. Some nasty ones, too, but you
deal with that. You understand, because I went through it and I know, you know, living by my
own with my two children, and then my parents, helping them and helping the community, and
helping you know that you don’t have the money to do that. So you just have to rely on the
Lord and say, you know, ‘I need money for gas.’ All of a sudden, somebody comes in and says
‘here’s ten dollars for gas, for what you did and all that,’ and then you have gas to keep going,
so. And you motivate the community with, when they come in, for example you’re very
welcome Sunday. We’re going to have a Holy Co…Jesus supposedly was born December 24th,
so we have Jesus on the 24th, and then February 2nd is the day we put him back into the world,
and that’s what we believe, so we have that. And we’re going to have it here next door, you’re
welcome to stop and take notes and, and all that. It’s going to be at 4:00. And then you’ll see,
our beliefs and why we do the things we do, and why we believe in God and Jesus, and the day
he was born we don’t really know, but our faith tells us that’s when he was born, so we believe
that. And it’s really nice, it’s a gathering of, the whole community comes in and talks to each
other, and just like, you know, an hour of fun. It’s nice.
Beveroth: So does the community have a really good, strong faith background?
Chavez: Yes they do. They do, and I think that faith is what keeps them going and alive, because
they see a lot of injustices, and they go back to pray like a hundred years ago. And they believe
that that helps, a lot. And so, there, most of the Hispanics are Catholics. We have others, now,
but most of us are Catholics, and so we rely on Father and the Church, and each other. Just
knowing that you need the help, and I’ll help you today, and then somebody else can help me
tomorrow, and that’s how we do it.
Thornton: Mhm.
Chavez: And so, like, we have Connie Barrett, and we have Araceli that helps out, and then we
have Estella Schneekloth, she works for Project Now, and she once in awhile comes in and
helps. She knows the whole community. She was born in this area, and so she tells us once in-awhile,
you know, ‘you should go here and seek help’ or like, ‘if you have somebody that needs
this you should go here,’ and so it’s really good, she advises us and she knows where to go, so…
And we’re the ones help here, doing the work, so she comes in to our meetings and sits with us
and[incomprehensible] every one of us where to go and what to do, and then do it. It’s nice. It’s
a nice community, very quiet. Um, awhile back it used to be a bad area, but I think it’s gotten
better. I think it, we don’t have a lot of fights anymore like we used to. Kids on one side fighting
with the other side. And then that stopped awhile back, and I think they see that the
community’s getting closer, and so then they’re falling apart. They’re not out there anymore.
They used to stand and try to scare you. And then, like, one time I walked in and I saw them
right there and I said ‘you know what, if you want to scare me or if you want to come in and rob
something, I don’t know what you can take but the door’s open, go ahead and take whatever
you want, just leave me alone’ ‘No, Maria, we’re not going to bother you. No, lock your door.’
Ok. And I went home. And so, I haven’t seen that in years. It happened once and that’s it, and I
was scared, let me tell you. I walked out and there were like five of them, and I said ‘Oh God.’
And I just said a prayer. I stood there, opened the door and talked to them. They said ‘no, no,
no. We’re here for something else.’ ‘Oh,ok,’ and I went home. I went home and I said ‘Thank
you, God’ because you don’t know what can happen. I mean these kids, they don’t care. They,
they got in trouble for any reason. They did whatever they wanted, at any time. And so, when I
saw that I knew, that nothing was going to happen. And nothing has happened to us, to none of
us, that volunteer. Sometimes I’m here until seven, eight o’clock at night, nine o’clock, and it’s
dark out there and nothing has ever happened.
Beveroth: So what do you think kind of changed the community to be less of that? What do you
think…
Chavez: The need. The need to be better. The need to help the children go to school and
graduate from high school. They see that the jobs are getting harder to get. When I came forty
years ago, you were bilingual, you stood there and anybody offered you a job. Now there’s like,
what, like a hundred and fifty people applying for one job and they know that. And, uh, I told
my grandkids that, uh, I said ‘Do you like to end up at Hardee’s or McDonald’s flipping
hamburgers?’ I said ‘that’s where you’re going to be if you don’t want to go to school. You want
to get a job right now because you want a car.’ I said ‘that’s what you’re going to do. Just stay
with the same job, but if you go to school and better yourself, chances are you can get a better
job.’ And I always put examples, like, I always say ‘Look at Obama, he came from nothing.’
‘Yeah, yeah, grandma. Ok, ok, you’ve told us that like twenty times.’ But I have to say it again
‘ok, ok, grandma.’ And I see my grandkids doing better, and going to school, and getting a clean
haircut. To see that, maybe we didn’t accomplish what we wanted, but maybe they will, one
day. And maybe this country will be better, and they’ll be better, so, that’s the hope that we
have, getting old. And then, uh, getting old gives me the wisdom that when I go out there and I,
I can tell as soon as I walk out, I see somebody standing, and going like this [gesture] or like, you
can tell he’s lost. And right away I tell him, ‘why don’t you walk in and have a cup of coffee with
me and we’ll talk.’ And that changes stuff, the whole situation‘Well, I don’t have a job’ and then
I tell him, ‘well, let’s you and I work on this and see what we can do,’ and right away you can
see the faces change when he walks out. So, a lot of people think that I lose my time a lot of
times doing that, because I do. Sometimes I just do that all day long, but I know it gives me
satisfaction that at least I gave him the hope that things were going to be better the next day.
And if you try, they are, they are.
Thornton: Wow. You mentioned, so you see it’s getting better, and the community’s evolved
and everything, but you still mentioned that the police force, that it went to worse and then
got, has gotten a little bit better, but you wanted to mention some of the discrimination, just
from the police force…
Chavez: Well, I felt at one time, and this is just my personal opinion, it’s not in general, but I felt
that they were stopping Hispanics just because they knew that the majority were illegal and
they didn’t have no driver’s license. And they created a lot of problems, because we felt that it
wasn’t right. And so then I went to the Church and I said ‘Father, I really need to talk to you.’
We got together and we went to East Moline, because I knew the chief of police since he was
growing up. And I called him and set up an appointment and said ‘I really need to talk to you.’
And he says ‘Well come on in Maria and see what we can do.’ And when we explained the
problem, he promised us that things were going to change. You could see it like, two, three
days later, that it changed. It changed.
Thornton: What year was that?
Chavez: That was, what, maybe six, seven years ago. And you knew exactly, because they were
stopping almost every Hispanic that was driving, was being stopped. And you hear it. They
would call me and they would tell me, and I saw that that was a problem. Because they were
most of Hispanics were being stopped when, like one got stopped because they said ‘you don’t
have a light on your license plate.’ And, uh, I said ‘What?’ So when I wrote it down, I said “I
can’t just go in front of the chief of police and say ‘they’re telling me this.’” You can’t do that. I
had to have dates. I had to have names. And then I started getting names and dates, and even
with the problem that they had, they were looking at their tags and memorizing the names of
the officer that stopped them, and they were giving me the names. So when I went in I said
‘this is the officers that are doing it.’ So you don’t walk in and call, and just say ‘well somebody
told me,’ no, I had the truth in my hand, and Father was right next to me saying the same thing,
that everybody that went to church, you know, all of a sudden he saw that like, from a hundred,
went to, like, thirty, and so he knew there was a problem. What’s going on? Well, they weren’t
driving anymore because they were scared. And so, they went, uh, to the police station, they
got stopped, they were in, they called immigration, and went back to Mexico. And they did it
just like that, like I’m telling you. And so then that has changed, and it has created a better
environment for everyone because if they stopped you it’s because they have a reason. You
test the light or you ran into a child, or something. It’s not like it was. And I saw it, I saw it. They
can’t lie to me and say it wasn’t happening because I lived through it, I know. That’s what was
happening. And it’s not happening anymore, you see the change.
Thornton: So, deportations were fairly common? Or, then ---
Chavez: Injustice. A lot of injustice. I saw the injustice coming in, and it was hard because there
was nothing we could do. And now you can see that it, it has changed. It has changed, they
have more, uh, they’re more confident to go out there and drive because they know that even
though they’re wrong they’re not going to be stopped because they’re wrong it’s because they
did something wrong. And so, they know, and it’s getting better, and it’s going to get better.
And if they allow everyone to have a driver’s license I think they’re going to stop the accident
people, you know, having an accident and you’re wrong you see because you don’t have a
license and you’re scared. And this way they have a license, they have insurance, they can work
for the police and make arrangements, and so I think that’s going to be better. I hope anyway. I
always hoped for the best. And it will happen, even though I’m not, I’m not going to say I’m
going to live a hundred years, but I hope to see the change as it’s going now, slowly taking
place.
Thornton: Mhm, yeah.
Beveroth: So is that one of the biggest changes you’ve seen, or what would be the biggest
change that you’ve seen since you’ve moved here?
Chavez: I think the biggest is that one, and then following by the community seeing the need of
learning the language. They have motivated themselves enough to really do it, and so now
they’re going to learn English. And it gives us a lot of satisfaction when they walk in with their
notebooks and, uh, they say ‘look it Maria,’ and, ‘I can say this’ or ‘I can say a sentence’ or ‘I can
count to twenty,’ and it’s just good to see that. It is, it gives me satisfaction that they know
there’s a need and they’re going to follow the need.
Thornton: Mhm.
Chavez: And they’ll better themselves by doing what they have to do, because they don’t rely
on their kids anymore. I mean, there’s families that go to Trinity and take a seven year-old to
translate when you’re having cancer. I mean, you want somebody that can tell you what’s going
on, and tell you exactly, and that seven year-old is not going to know. So they see the need, and
they’re doing what they have to do, what they needed to do twenty years ago, so now they’re
going out there and doing it.
Thornton: Mhm.
Chavez: And then I see that the community has gotten themselves alert. Now they need a
house. The house that they live in is for sale, so they have to… And they look in the paper, they
go and ask, they look around the streets to see. And so, fifteen, twenty years ago they were so
scared because of immigration issues that they weren’t doing that, and now you see that they
are. So they go out there and they look, and even though they don’t speak the language they
come in and get one of us, or get their children to go and negotiate, and that wasn’t happening.
And now you can see it, because I’m out there all the time and I see, sometimes I stop, I see a
family I know, ‘oh we came because it says for rent’ ‘do you need help?’ ‘yes, yes!’ and so then I
stop, and if they say ‘no, no! I’ve got my son, it’s ok,’ then I leave. So, but you see that they’re
out there doing it. They don’t rely on somebody to do everything for them. And that’s good, to
a certain extent.
Thornton: Mhm.
Chavez: And I’m pretty sure that you’re learning the language, you’re going to get along with
the community and you’ll see my viewing, and you’ll understand better because you’ll be
involved with the community. And a lot of people come in and cry on a daily basis because of all
the needs they have, and then I tell them ‘well you don’t have to cry because this, this is just a
simple issue that you can take care of,’ and then it gives me satisfaction to see that also then. If
I explain and I tell them, they understand. If they sit there and try to understand on their own
they don’t, until somebody else does, and then, it helps. I see that on a daily basis, like, right
now nobody has come in because they know it’s closed. Otherwise, I’d have people knocking on
the door. But as soon as they see us walking in, they follow right away.
Thornton: Mhm. So would you say that the Palomares Center and Casa Guanajuato, these are
the main places that help members of the community that members of the community fill this
need, the churches as well? What are the areas that you refer people to?
Chavez: Well, it depends on the need that they have. Uh, a lot of times it’s medical. A lot of
times it’s housing. A lot of times it’s educational. A lot of times it’s schooling problems. So it, all
different issues. You don’t deal with the same on a daily basis, it’s all different. Uh, Casa
Guanajuato has been established for a few years, and they have money to deal with, versus us
that don’t have a lot of money. But we try, without money, and we’re doing well, we’re doing
ok. And, but I think Casa Guanajuato, the churches, the schools, even the hospitals you deal
with them as the need arises. Then you have to explain the situation, and almost on a daily
basis I go out to the hospital to try to negotiate. Somebody has an outstanding bill of $4000,
$3000, and they don’t want to just leave without paying it, but they don’t have the money, so
they have to make arrangements. I saw a few years back where the hospitals did not see the
need and they wanted their money and I understand, but they didn’t have no money so what
are you going to do? Now I can see it, that you go in and they sit with you and they try this, they
try this, until something is worked out. ‘You can pay $150’ ‘No’ ‘What about $100?’ ‘No’ ‘What
about $50?’ ‘I can give $30 for a while, and then I’ll start $50, and then I’ll go up’ ‘Ok.’ And you
can see that, so it’s been worked out, and it helps. And then the churches, I myself sometimes
get in trouble, because I’m Catholic and then I’m knocking on every church’s door and it’s like, I
mean you’re going to all these denominations. Well, I’ll go where they help, so I hit all the
churches in the Quad City area. They know me, by first name. The Mexican stores, they know
me, because if I need food for somebody I go and ask, and I tell them ‘I don’t have money and I
need this. Can you help me?’ ‘No we can’t, not right now. Thank you.’ ‘Yes we can, get a box
and get what you need.’ And so you see that. And then I’ll go back to the family, ‘This is all I
could get. I couldn’t get anything but I’m going to try again.’ And I can see, that they say, ‘We
understand, we know.’ And so that helps, that keeps you going to see that you’re helping, that
you’re doing something out there. [cough] And I know I am because, on a daily basis, I see
somebody on the street that, I hear ‘Maria!’ so I know they know me. And it gives me great
satisfaction when they say ‘thank you because I got the job’ or ‘ thank you, I have a house. I got
the house.’ They call or they had a tire. They had a flat tire and they don’t have money for
another tire, so I go someplace and I get one for $5 just until they can get back on their feet.
‘Oh, the tire’s working. It’s right there’ And so, you know, I know I’m doing something. And it
gives me satisfaction to see that you’re interested in our needs and our community, and that
you’re doing this because you care. And one day you guys will make a difference because all of
this will come out and they’ll see your work, just like they see mine now.
Thornton: Mhm. Then, is their anymore questions you’d like to ask? [directed to Andrew]
Beveroth: I don’t think I have any questions. Do you have anything that you feel like we should,
didn’t cover?
Chavez: No, you covered it all. I mean, you went from step to step, and talking about my
childhood it, it’s good. Every time I have a chance I always talk about working from, because
everybody always notices my accent. Well, my accent is because I speak, I go from English to
Spanish and, you know, back and forth. And so, then it creates an accent that, I don’t care, they
understand me. And if I, they don’t understand me when I speak I can write it down. I’m a good
writer.
Thornton: So, did you speak Spanish with your family then?
Chavez: Mhm.
Thornton: Did your parents know English?
Chavez: Mhm, they did, mhm. And it was really, really funny because my mom came from
Mexico, and she never spoke English to us. We would talk in English, and she always answered
in Spanish. And I could never understand why. She had a way. She understood everything we
said, and she answered in Spanish. And then we learned. She told me one day, she says ‘don’t
ever, ever forget your language. It’s going to do you some good one day.’ And it did. It really
did. It made a difference in my life. And all my grandkids, I tell them on a daily basis, ‘you need
to learn to write, and read, and speak Spanish.’ ‘Yes, grandma.’ ‘Ok, mama.’ And I know, they’re
trying. They’re really trying. My daughters they both speak Spanish, read and write, so it has
helped them. And they’re looking for work, to better themselves, getting better jobs, and they
know why I always said that they had to learn. And it’s nice. It’s nice because at home like, let’s
say for example at Christmas, we’re talking English and then all of a sudden we find ourselves
talking about Jesus and the birth of Jesus in Spanish. El nacimiento el niño Jesús. And it’s just
good, you know, to be able to do that. And I know you know because you can speak Spanish, so
if anybody sees you out there, ‘Oh, mira la gringita’ and then you turn around and say ‘Sí, yo
entiendo,’ ‘Oh!’ you know. (Laughter) It makes a difference in your life.
Thornton: It does.
Chavez: So good luck and I hope you stay with the language, and I hope one day to see you in
the White House working as an interpreter, translator. (laughter).
Thornton: I think I could probably do more good here.
Chavez: Well yeah, there’s a lot of need in this area, and like I said, problems change on a daily
basis, the need --- [Cell phone]
Thornton: Sorry, we will just sort it out with Dr. Leech later. They have ways of putting things
together. So do you think, well you said that ‘Hope to see you some day in the White House.’
Do you think they need more people in the White house that can translate and help
differentiate more?
Chavez: I do, I really do. They should have on of each nationality that lives in this country, so
that when problems arise, he doesn’t have to deal with them. He can just go, ‘Okay, I’m going
to assign you to that, you understand the language, you know how they think and you know
what they need.’ Then problems would be solved. Right now, he’s dealing with so many
problems that he doesn’t know what to do. Then the Hispanics, right now immigration is a big
issue, and he promised to, what four years ago, he didn’t do anything. Well, it’s not that he did
not do anything, he wanted to but that they didn’t let him and we have to understand that. But
walk and tell the community that immigration is down at the bottom again and people will start
crying all over again. Because I feel in my own opinion, if he does go ahead and helps, a lot of
problems will be solved. I think, but that’s just me.
Thornton: Yeah.
Chavez: So hopefully, we’re praying for it. That he can resolve the problem and taxes will be
better, people will work, they don’t have to use anybody else’s name, or social security, and it
will be a better country, just like it was one hundred years ago when all the immigrants started
coming in. Now, they say we’re the only immigrants, and that not true. But like I said, it gets
better, it’s going to get better. It will, I know, I can see it, but it will take time but it will.
Thornton: Mhm.
Chavez: Like everything else, you’re going to make a meal, you’re going to fix a meal for
somebody, you have to start from scratch and it takes time, but then at the end you see the
satisfaction that it came out how you want it. So, that’s what this is, I mean Obama is out there
and he wants to do so many things and he can’t do as much as he said he’s going to do, but
maybe somebody else will come in and do it. So we hope for the best. That’s why I go out every
year and vote, sometimes I don’t do the best voting, but you know that’s the only choice I had
at that time and so.
Thornton: Mhm. Thank you very much for taking the time to meet with us, we really appreciate
it.
Chavez: Well thank you for thinking of me and my community, because this is my community
even though I was born in this country, my dependents are Hispanics and I always think back
when my mother and father arrived they wanted to see what we’re looking at now. And we
want to see a hundred years ahead. That’s what I tell my grandkids, even though I’m not going
to see where you’re going to get, I know you’re going to get there, you’re going to school,
you’re bettering yourselves. So thank you, my door’s always open for you guys, whenever you
want to see what goes on; go to the Mexican restaurant, go to the Mexican store and see how
we talk and what they say. Come back and we’ll just go walk around and you’ll get a better
idea, a better view of the need. There’s people that going in there and say; ‘Yeah, I’m going to
take tortillas and leave and I only have so much.’ And then you see the owner coming out, they
go back and call the owner and he says, ‘That’s okay, take it and give me what you have’ that’s
when you that the need is there, that we are doing something about it, helping. Because you
know when that person gets a job, he’s going to come back to that store, he’s not going to go
there because this is the one that helps, so this is the one that he’s going to come back. Things
will get better you’ll see, and even though you’re not going to me, like is said, you know like a
hundred years you’ll always think of me when you see that the changes are taking place and
the community is getting better, you can go back and say. ‘She was right.’ So thank you for your
time, and come back again, okay?